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The four members of Skunk Anansie – Skin (vocals), Ace (guitars), Cass (bass), Mark (drums) – have been together for barely five years and yet despite excessive touring, they have already recorded three CDs. They’ve toured with Bad Religion, Therapy, Henry Rollins, were openers for Lenny Kravitz on his European tour and for Rammstein here in the States. Currently, they’re on tour with Sevendust, Staind and Powerman 5000. Skin explains that the provocative title of the new album, Post Orgasmic Chill, reflects the slow comedown the band experienced in 1998 after finally coming off the road from near constant touring. In 1994, the band took a short break to record their first CD, Paranoid And Sunburned, continued on the road and then recorded their second CD, Europe’s overnight success, Stoosh in 1996. Both albums achieved multi-platinum status. Now, 1999 sees them with their most eclectic album to date, Post Orgasmic Chill, which hit US stores this August. The music features Skin’s superb voice backed by a variety of rhythms and beats that capture everything from pop, dub, hip-hop, to African and Eastern music. | |||
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NYROCK: |
Your audience is pretty mixed, a lot of rock bands – if I may call you that – have more of a male audience... | ||
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ACE: |
It's nice, isn't it? I like having a mixed audience and so do the others. I think a lot of it is due to the fact that Skin is a woman. A lot of guys show up because we're a rock band, or maybe 'cause the first few rows are only girls. | ||
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SKIN: |
Unfortunately most rock bands are male. I think there's too much testosterone there. We're really glad that we've got such a mixed audience: Gays, gothics, punks, everything! Oh, and there's nothing wrong with calling us a rock band, we're definitely a rock band. Before we got the record contract I was running from record company to record company. All the time they tried to send me to the bloody soul-department. Freaked me out! They just saw that I'm black and labeled me "black soul music" until I really freaked out and told them what they could do with their fucking soul A&R management, that we are a rock band and not a soul band and that I want the A&R guys of the rock department. Black female singer – must be a soul band – I really had enough of that crap, believe me. | ||
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NYROCK: |
Speaking of gays, the press, of course, makes an issue of the fact that you're lesbian. Does that bother you? | ||
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SKIN: |
It can be pretty annoying, especially because the press tries to paint me as a hardcore lesb. Kind of "the freak band with the lesbian singer" and that's what really bugs me. I really don't care if somebody doesn't like me for what I am, but hypocrites who act so liberal just because it's "in" drive me up the wall. It's actually funny; sometimes people think Cass and I are dating, but hey, unfortunately, he's a guy. | ||
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NYROCK: |
So how do you work? Who's in charge? | ||
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ACE: |
Nobody's really in charge. We're a band, but Skin has a great way of persuading us to get things done: She just starts screaming, "You lazy bastards, get off your asses and do something!" Believe me when she starts screaming she can scream down walls and she really doesn't mince words. | ||
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SKIN: |
You boys needed a good kick in the backside to get in gear. We're a band so we need to work together. I don't care how things get done as long as they get done. | ||
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NYROCK: |
Sounds like you have a lady boss.... | ||
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ACE: |
I wouldn't call Skin the boss. She can be very bossy – just look at her mouthing off – but she's more the driving force. She has so much energy that it's contagious. As a band we have no boss. We talk about things and come to agreements. Skin is just the loudest one and that mouth she has on her, that's really something.... | ||
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NYROCK: |
You've been labeled a political band. How do you feel about that? | ||
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ACE: |
It sounds a bit like a drawer. You know, you're getting the button "political band" and that's it. We were touring with Bad Religion, and they're a very political band, apart from being a great punk band, but I don't see us as mainly a political band. | ||
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SKIN: |
Everything is political, but as Ace said, we wanted to escape the political label. Basically, we're just watching what happens around us in the world, and part of it finds its way into our music. We kind of document the things that happen. The world isn't perfect and I think it's pretty fatalistic to pretend everything is just great. I don't want to write "nice little lyrics," that wouldn't be me. I am who I am and I don't mince words, take it or leave it. As a black lesbian, I'm hardly the girl next door, more like the living nightmare of every conservative suburban house owner with a neat little garden. I really don't care. If they don't like me, fine. I can live with it and I don't force myself on them, but I refuse to shut up and I can't imagine anybody who could shut me up. | ||
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| NYROCK: | What were your musical influences? | ||
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ACE: |
Rock, definitely rock. For me that's the real cool thing about the band, we've got our own taste, each of us has his favourite bands and his own style of playing and nobody has to give it up, it all blends in. I'd call it a combination of different styles that melts down and makes our own unique sound. Our music is not just rock, but I am a rock-guitarist and can play a rock-guitar in the band and Skin's voice – hell, she's got such a great voice she can do almost anything with it. I always loved rock and I'm glad that I can play it. When I was pretty young I also used to love punk. My brother is a bit older, when we were both kids he bought the Sex Pistols record Never Mind the Bullocks and we used to listen to it at night. I still remember how we hid the record player in the cupboard and listened to it at night because our mom said she wouldn't tolerate the filthy stuff in the house. She never even heard the music – the title was simply too much for her. I'm babbling now, but yeah, well, I just get excited when it comes to music. I really feel passionate about music and I think that's how it should be. | ||
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SKIN: |
And he likes to talk. But we've all got different influences. I grew up with a lot of dub and reggae, then I loved the '80s stuff. Blondie is an all time favorite of mine. I think it's great that they're back. | ||
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NYROCK: |
You said earlier that you see yourself as a rock band, but your album starts with drum'n'bass beats. Did you tire of guitars? | ||
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ACE: |
Hell no, never. For us rock is still alive and I guess it will always be. We don't have a problem with it. We love to sweat on stage and act like real rockers. | ||
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SKIN: |
But you know, some of the new musical influences aren't bad, so why not use them? I think mainly our album is rock, but we used a few electronic sounds too, then there's hip-hop, world music... everything. A while ago they labeled that cross over.... Skunk in Concert September 1999 | ||
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